Above and below photos: usarsarollerskaters.org
Found this photo but lost where it came from. Appears to be early 1980's thanks to automobiles on the right in the photo above. Noticed the admission front and addition was added. Wish there was a better photo of the remodeled look.
Levittown Arena as it looked in its final year, 1986. Color photo above credit: Craigchris66 on Flickr.
Bottom set of photos showed during its hey days and in 2000/2010s as a shopping plaza. Photo credit: usarsarollerskaters.org
Final skate night. Farewell figure skating night. Courtesy of Lisa Barsalona. Lisa has quite a bit of videos on YouTube related to skating especially figure skating events. Please check her page!
Levittown Arena, 2571 Hempstead Tpke, East Meadow, NY
Levittown Arena was a roller rink where famous skating champions are from. It was called, "Rink of Champions" where many skaters won tournaments, skating competitions, etc. One skater, named Dot won 69 medals in her 14 years of skating career. That was quite a feat.
Levittown was a pioneering housing development with cookie cutter homes that are similar in design and cheap built for the returning military soldiers from World War II. The development grew into a town. Literally a town. This occurred in the second half of 1940s. Ten years later, Levittown Arena opened and operated by a chain called, America on Wheels (in 1955) and it became famous because of many top skating champions were from there. They were like the New York Yankees of Roller Skating or the Montreal Canadians, or the Boston Celtics of Roller Skating. The Jack Nicklauses or Micheal Jordans of roller skating tournaments. They were well-trained for roller skating.
The building itself was very much like a mid-century arena with arched roof and 1950s style front door entrance with salt-box roof slant downward against the big wall. The design was quite mid-Century Modernism with a bit of Googie's architecture.
The interior was plainly simple Mid-Century architecture. Not like any rinks of 1960s and on. Ceiling lights were tube lights all in columns. The design was quite common during the Golden Age of Roller Skating with this interior look.
There are wealth of information related to the famous Levittown Arena. Apparently with the closure of Levittown, Empire Roller Rink in NYC was the next to handle the flagship of Skating Rinks because Empire was the home of the Roller Disco as Levittown Arena was to Roller Ballet, Roller Ballroom, and Roller dance competitions.
The rink was the place where people met each other and married and had children. This went on for 30 plus years. It was the place skaters had to be well-kept such as no long hairs for men, no loose hairs for women, no dirty jeans. Many wore dressed up. From it sounds like they wore suits and dresses to skate there! Dress up was common in anywhere in first sixty years of the Twentieth Century!
Levittown Arena had organ music and in latter half of its run, they had it for two nights per week for adults along with the organ music and for weekends, teen listened to roller disco and classics (1950s to 1980s).
But in 1986, after 31 years, the rink was no more. It was closed, sold, and torn down to make room for a drug store chain called, Rock Bottom Drug Store chain which the chain was later sold to Duane Reade Inc., another drug chain which later was sold to Walgreens. Presently after seeing on Google Maps, there is no drug store available. Likely they sold the shopping plaza which now houses Dollar Tree, Moe's, and Texas Roadhouse restaurant, a fitness center, and other small stores and a cafe. The reason for the closure was liability-insurance premium nearly quadrupled in the last three years of operating the rink. In 1980s and 1990s, many businesses folded due to insurance premiums skyrocketed and for some others, forced to remodeled. For instance, a miniture golf course on Erie Boulevard East behind a McDonald's was forced to change some of their layout designs because of insurance liability. Roller Skating was an activity with high risk of injuries from skating. Skaters get knocked down or being bullied by rough skaters to cause injuries. This is why some rinks, skaters were forced to sign a piece of paper-- a contract to keep the cost down by not being sued.
But for Levittown, insurance was killing the cost of skating. If they would have planned to survive, the prices would be forced to increased to 10 to 20 dollars admission per skater in the 1980s. A price would have been 30 Dollars in today's money. Remember this was long before the wavier signing.
Today in New York City-Long Island region, a very few surviving rinks are still in business. A simple google search would be helpful. Unfortunately, skating was not as popular as it is today.
Worth to look at this site talking about Levittown Arena: Levittown Arena (click on green fonts).
Rink Size: 100' X 200' Floor: Maple Wood Floor Layout: Log Cabin
Building Size: N/A Built: 1955 Demolished: 1986
Type of Building: Free Span Steel Warehouse Building.
Roof: Arched/Curve
Acres: N/A
Operations: 1955 to September 23, 1986
Reason for Closure: Insurance premiums skyrocket forced to close the still popular rink.
Wanted: Information regarding exact date of open. Any interesting info, more pictures interior as it was. And color photograph of exterior.
You Tube Video: Levittown Arena Farewell Night.
Sources/Credits: FRRP, USARSA websites, Newsday 9/18/86
© 2019 - 2020 Dead Rinks. All Rights Reserved.
Levittown Arena was a roller rink where famous skating champions are from. It was called, "Rink of Champions" where many skaters won tournaments, skating competitions, etc. One skater, named Dot won 69 medals in her 14 years of skating career. That was quite a feat.
Levittown was a pioneering housing development with cookie cutter homes that are similar in design and cheap built for the returning military soldiers from World War II. The development grew into a town. Literally a town. This occurred in the second half of 1940s. Ten years later, Levittown Arena opened and operated by a chain called, America on Wheels (in 1955) and it became famous because of many top skating champions were from there. They were like the New York Yankees of Roller Skating or the Montreal Canadians, or the Boston Celtics of Roller Skating. The Jack Nicklauses or Micheal Jordans of roller skating tournaments. They were well-trained for roller skating.
The building itself was very much like a mid-century arena with arched roof and 1950s style front door entrance with salt-box roof slant downward against the big wall. The design was quite mid-Century Modernism with a bit of Googie's architecture.
The interior was plainly simple Mid-Century architecture. Not like any rinks of 1960s and on. Ceiling lights were tube lights all in columns. The design was quite common during the Golden Age of Roller Skating with this interior look.
There are wealth of information related to the famous Levittown Arena. Apparently with the closure of Levittown, Empire Roller Rink in NYC was the next to handle the flagship of Skating Rinks because Empire was the home of the Roller Disco as Levittown Arena was to Roller Ballet, Roller Ballroom, and Roller dance competitions.
The rink was the place where people met each other and married and had children. This went on for 30 plus years. It was the place skaters had to be well-kept such as no long hairs for men, no loose hairs for women, no dirty jeans. Many wore dressed up. From it sounds like they wore suits and dresses to skate there! Dress up was common in anywhere in first sixty years of the Twentieth Century!
Levittown Arena had organ music and in latter half of its run, they had it for two nights per week for adults along with the organ music and for weekends, teen listened to roller disco and classics (1950s to 1980s).
But in 1986, after 31 years, the rink was no more. It was closed, sold, and torn down to make room for a drug store chain called, Rock Bottom Drug Store chain which the chain was later sold to Duane Reade Inc., another drug chain which later was sold to Walgreens. Presently after seeing on Google Maps, there is no drug store available. Likely they sold the shopping plaza which now houses Dollar Tree, Moe's, and Texas Roadhouse restaurant, a fitness center, and other small stores and a cafe. The reason for the closure was liability-insurance premium nearly quadrupled in the last three years of operating the rink. In 1980s and 1990s, many businesses folded due to insurance premiums skyrocketed and for some others, forced to remodeled. For instance, a miniture golf course on Erie Boulevard East behind a McDonald's was forced to change some of their layout designs because of insurance liability. Roller Skating was an activity with high risk of injuries from skating. Skaters get knocked down or being bullied by rough skaters to cause injuries. This is why some rinks, skaters were forced to sign a piece of paper-- a contract to keep the cost down by not being sued.
But for Levittown, insurance was killing the cost of skating. If they would have planned to survive, the prices would be forced to increased to 10 to 20 dollars admission per skater in the 1980s. A price would have been 30 Dollars in today's money. Remember this was long before the wavier signing.
Today in New York City-Long Island region, a very few surviving rinks are still in business. A simple google search would be helpful. Unfortunately, skating was not as popular as it is today.
Worth to look at this site talking about Levittown Arena: Levittown Arena (click on green fonts).
Rink Size: 100' X 200' Floor: Maple Wood Floor Layout: Log Cabin
Building Size: N/A Built: 1955 Demolished: 1986
Type of Building: Free Span Steel Warehouse Building.
Roof: Arched/Curve
Acres: N/A
Operations: 1955 to September 23, 1986
Reason for Closure: Insurance premiums skyrocket forced to close the still popular rink.
Wanted: Information regarding exact date of open. Any interesting info, more pictures interior as it was. And color photograph of exterior.
You Tube Video: Levittown Arena Farewell Night.
Sources/Credits: FRRP, USARSA websites, Newsday 9/18/86
© 2019 - 2020 Dead Rinks. All Rights Reserved.